Catalans have started voting in an election described as the most important in Spain’s recent history, with opinion polls pointing to a win by supporters of a candidate who has pledged to declare the region independent.

Voting stations opened at 07:00 GMT yesterday in Spain’s richest region of 7.5 million people where separatist feeling has increased in the recent years of economic crises.

Artur Mas, Catalonia’s nationalist president, told a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters as he was wrapping up his election campaign on Friday that the vote would “lead to freedom”.

“Sunday is a special day for the future of Catalonia. It is an historic day,” he said.

Opinion polls show the conservative Mas and his left-wing allies in the pro-independence list, Together For Yes, could win that majority and nearly half the votes overall.